


Save The Last Dance For Me

by roseandheather



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Charity Gala, Dancing Fic Ahoy!, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 00:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6447715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseandheather/pseuds/roseandheather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four people Leanne danced with at the charity gala, and the one she went home with at the end of the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save The Last Dance For Me

**1\. Rollie Guthrie: "Let It Be" - The Beatles  
**

_When I find myself in times of trouble_  
_Mother Mary comes to me_  
_Speaking words of wisdom, let it be_  
_And in my hour of darkness_  
_She is standing right in front of me_  
_Speaking words of wisdom, let it be_

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

She grins. "I could stand to hear it again. Especially from you."

"You look beautiful, Leanne," Rollie tells her, his eyes twinkling. "Love is a good look on you."

"Come again?" she squawks, and nearly steps on his foot.

He just smiles that ageless, knowing smile. "I've known you for a lot of years, Leanne," he reminds her gently. "I know what you look like in love. Ed is a lucky man."

It's not the first time she's had the impulse to spill her heart out to Rollie Guthrie. It's just the first time she hasn't fought it.

"I love him, Rollie," she admits quietly. "I love him so much."

"It's mutual," Rollie assures her, nodding in Ed's direction. He's dancing with one of the donors' wives, but his eyes keep flickering back to her, and when their eyes meet across the dance floor, he smiles at her like there's no one else in the room.

"It scares me," she murmurs, and feels Rollie rub her shoulder gently. "How much I love him."

"Leanne, the last thing you need to do is overanalyze this," he tells her, in that fatherly tone she'd only ever put up with from him. "Let yourself be happy. Please? You've earned that ten times over. What will be, will be, so take what happiness you can and hold on to it. There's nothing else you can do, really."

"You're too wise for my own good," she grumbles, but squeezes his hand in thanks all the same.

They finish their dance in peaceful, contented silence, but when she's just about to leave him, he tugs her hand to turn her around. "Leanne," he says, and squeezes her fingers. "I'd be happy to officiate the wedding."

She doesn't bother to fight the urge to hug him. There's no point.

And she doesn't really want to, anyway.

 

**2\. Neal Hudson: "I'll Be There For You" - The Rembrandts**

_So no one told you life was gonna be this way_  
_Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A._  
_It's like you're always stuck in second gear_  
_When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but_  
  
_I'll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour)_  
_I'll be there for you (like I've been there before)_  
_I'll be there for you ('cause you're there for me too...)_

"Leanne!"

She turns, and feels a helpless, hopelessly foolish grin blossoming on her face as Neal Hudson holds out his hand to her.

"Dance with me?" he asks, his eyes sparkling, already spinning her onto the dance floor.

"Of course," she says, still grinning like an idiot. "It's our song, remember?"

"How could I forget?" He twirls her under his arm with surprising finesse, and when she lands back in his arms, she's laughing. "How many times have we blared this on the stereo?"

"Too many to count," she admits, as he spins her out of his arms and back in again. "The car, your living room, _my_ living room, conferences all over the country - "

He's so easy to follow, she doesn't have to think. They dance as flawlessly here as they do in Center Stage, and for a moment, she closes her eyes and lets the pleasure flood her. It's been so long since she's felt this free, and in the first flush of her new relationship, time with Neal had taken second place to her time with Ed - and his with Christa. But it seems like such a shame now that they haven't made time for just the two of them, because this - this is pure pleasure and freedom, when she can forget all the eyes and just _be._

"I miss you," she admits, as he spins her into his chest one final time and hugs her tight.

"I miss you, too," he admits, murmuring the words in her ear. "Our next day off, just for us? Like it used to be?"

"I'll be there," she promises against his shoulder, and grins when he squeezes her tighter.

"Leanne," he says, just as she's about to let go of his hand.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She couldn't have stopped the tears or the smile, not even if she wanted to.

"I love you, too."

 

**3\. Mike Leighton: "Don't Stop Believing" - Journey**

_Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world_  
_She took the midnight train goin' anywhere_  
_Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit_  
_He took the midnight train goin' anywhere..._

In the event, she finds herself passed from Neal's arms to Mike's without so much as a 'by your leave'.

"Oh no," says Mike, when she laughs and shakes her head. "You're not sitting this one out, Leanne. C'mon."

Maybe being with Ed has made her soft, or maybe it's just old age; either way, she lets him spin her around in a decidedly uncoordinated but undeniably enthusiastic whirl. His joy is infectious, and she finds herself rocking out with him, her hands on his shoulders and his on her hips, the two of them lip-synching to the lyrics to the clear amusement of everybody around them.

Mike can't dance the way Neal can, but if his goal is to make her forget and let go, he succeeds magnificently.

 

**4\. Jesse Sallander: "Umbrella" - Rihanna**

_When the sun shines, we'll shine together_  
_Told you I'd be here forever_  
_Said I'll always be a friend_  
_Took an oath I'ma stick it out 'til the end_  
_Now that it's raining more than ever_  
_Know that we'll still have each other_  
_You can stand under my umbrella_  
_You can stand under my umbrella_

"You're glowing," Jesse observes quietly, under the heady beat of Rihanna's hit song. "It looks really good on you, chica."

"Thanks, Mama." Impulsively, she plants a kiss on his forehead. "Thanks for saving me a dance."

"Please, Daddy," he says, somehow spinning her under his arm, then making her squawk as he lands a pat on her bum. "I'd save them all for you, you know that, right?"

"I know."

"That man of yours treating you right?"

"Yeah," she admits, unable to keep her eyes from misting. "Yeah, Mama. He is."

"Good. If he's not, you come to me, y'hear?"

"Perish the thought," she says with a shudder. She knows who'd win _that_ confrontation, and it isn't Ed Harbert. "Don't worry, Mama. He's..." She pauses, then smiles, suddenly absolutely sure of what to say. "He's worth the wait," she says quietly, and sees Jesse's eyes soften.

He spins her to a stop, then kisses her gently on the cheek. "Be happy, Daddy," he murmurs in her ear, and she hugs him - tight, long, and hard - before she lets him go again.

 

**5\. Ed Harbert: "Save the Last Dance For Me" - The Drifters**

"We don't have to do this, you know," she tells him gently, there at the edge of the dance floor. "I know how private you are. We can sit this dance out, go home tonight, and let everyone assume we came as friends."

"Or," Ed returns, his voice unusually husky, "we can go out there and dance, and not bother to hide how we feel for _once_ in our lives, Leanne. And we can let the whole crowd assume whatever they will from what they see."

She blinks. "But you and Gina - "

"Gina and I wanted to wait until her two months at Angels were over," he interrupts quietly, his eyes far away. "We were already seeing each other - though I want to make it very clear that she got the appointment on merit alone - but during her time here we got... we became much, much closer. We wanted to wait to go public until Taylor came back." He clears his throat, and she stifles the urge to draw him into her arms. "In the end we never got the chance." She blinks rapidly, hoping to keep the tears at bay, and he turns to face her and takes her hands in his. "I loved her, Leanne, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret keeping things quiet. It made perfect sense at the time but now - God, now I wish more than anything else I'd told the world how I felt about her. How a part of me will _always_ feel about her."

Leanne just nods. She knows exactly what he means.

"So no, Leanne," he continues, quiet and intense. "I don't want to wait. I don't want to wait another _minute._ If you're ready for this, then so am I."

Her shining eyes are all the answer he needs.

 _You can dance every dance with the guy_  
_Who gives you the eye, let him hold you tight_  
_You can smile every smile for the man_  
_Who held your hand 'neath the pale moon light_  
_But don't forget who's takin' you home_  
_And in whose arms you're gonna be_  
_So darlin' - save the last dance for me..._

When he takes her in his arms, there's no one else in the world.

He never takes his eyes from hers, as they swirl around the dance floor. Never once stops touching her, stops holding her, as though she's the most precious thing in his universe. She can hear the whispers beginning, the gasps of recognition as the dance floor clears around them. But still - always and ever still - she can't take her eyes from his.

Dancing with Ed Harbert is nothing like dancing with anyone else. Even the freedom she'd felt spinning in Neal's arms was nothing to this, because if that was freedom, this was heaven. He leads her so smoothly she hardly notices she's being led at all; it feels like flying, moving like this, and when he spins her off her feet she tilts her head back and gives herself up in total trust.

It feels like they're weaving a spell. All she can see, all she can feel, all she _knows_ is the reverence in his touch, his heart in his eyes as he simply drinks her in.

She feels beautiful, too, when he reaches up to tug the pin from her hair. It cascades around her shoulders in a ripple of nut-brown curls, and when he spins her then she can feel it flying out behind her. His eyes darken as he looks at her - a look she knows all too well, that means he wants her naked in his bed _right now_ \- but he doesn't stop, doesn't do anything except dance her until the end of the world.

His palm against her bare back sends an electric current through her, warm and aching, and oh, how she _wants._ She hadn't known that dancing would weave its own kind of spell, one that leaves her wishing they were already home, but the feeling flooding her now is so incredible she doesn't want it to ever end.

He spins her off her feet again at the final notes, locking her body to his with one strong arm, and giddiness makes her lightheaded.

And when he sets her gently on her feet again, they lean in to kiss each other like it's the most natural, the most inevitable thing in the world.

She doesn't hold anything back; pours all she is, all she wants, all she hopes to be into the contact of his lips on hers. His hands are gentle and tender, reverent even, wherever he touches her; one cradles the back of her head, fingers threading through the waterfall of her unbound hair, and the other gently brushes knuckles to her cheek, to her temple, to her neck and shoulders and upper back.

He kisses her like he loves her, she thinks, and chokes back a cry.

By the time they part they're panting, but he's smiling fit to put the stars to shame, and she knows her own grin is equally smitten. There's a smatter of cheeky applause, and then, an unmistakable voice from the crowd: "Get it, Rorish!"

"You're fired, Savetti!" she calls, not even bothering to look around, and her smile never breaks.

"No, you aren't!" retorts Ed, still not looking away from her, smile as undimmed as ever, and a titter of honest, heartfelt laughter runs through the crowd.

"Come on," murmurs Ed, under the cover of the noise. "Let's go home."

Still wordless, she nods.

They stroll out of the ballroom hand-in-hand, still lost in each other's eyes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's never enough charity gala fic, amirite? I have another one in the works - loving description of Leanne's dress and all - but it refuses to tie itself off in a neat little bow, so I wrote this one in the meanwhile. Hope you like!
> 
> The two clips I used for reference for this fic are [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQPVCjEaiZA) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZbUNhVLgUo). 
> 
> The former is from a series Jeff Hephner was on called _Hellcats_ (all you really need to know is that his character, Red, and Vanessa are complete and utter soul mates who never stopped loving each other even after ten years apart and that Red is essentially a good-hearted guy but can be kind of a manipulative bastard when it suits him, and also he's desperately in love with Vanessa, did we mention that?) and is the clip I had on my mind when I wrote Ed and Leanne's kiss at the end of their dance. Basically Red thinks Vanessa is the most precious amazing incredible wonderful thing in the entire goddamn universe and he kisses her like it. Exactly like Ed with Leanne. (...can I get kissed by Jeff Hephner? Please? Because _damn_.)
> 
> The latter is from _Queer as Folk_ (the US version), involving Brian and Justin's prom dance to the same song Ed and Leanne dance to, and is basically the sort of dance I pictured for them together during that song. (I think it's a rumba, but all I know about ballroom I learned from _Dancing With the Stars_.) It's referred to in-text as "ridiculously romantic", so. (Funny story: I vetoed Iris' other song suggestion, "It Had to Be You", on the grounds that Ed and Leanne wouldn't want to put on a display _quite_ that intimate, and "Save the Last Dance" was cheekier and more playful and therefore less likely to result in them splashing their mutual feelings all over everywhere including bystanders. Yeah, that.... didn't quite happen. At all, I mean. To wit: these _idiots_.)
> 
> Comments are good for my soul (and tend to produce more fic, more rapidly). Hint, hint! ;)


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